St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-11-05
THE VITAL QUESTION.


about him that attracts their attention
is che bolted y Compared to such Il
crime, murder, burglary, arson, embez-
element, even treason itself sinks INTO
insignificance. Like the penitentiary
keeper IN Kansas who points ont the
| convicted whiSkey sellers when asked
| to exhibit his most horrible and dan
gerous criminals, these ring organs
| shout themselves hoarse i'll dennncla-
| ton of "holting" as worse than any
| crime in the catalogue, even downright
| BETRAYAL of the interests and Will ot the
people They do not pretend that
many of the most faithful public men
ever produced by America among them
| Samuel j. Tilden do not frequently de-
nonnce the nominations OF their party
when they consider that the pa!tN's
princjples have bee II sacrificed they do
not pretend that Hunt was not a good
! Democrat and worthy of any mans
! snpDort; they do not pretend that the
/ men who supported him, such as ker-
| nochan. Rogers, and others have not
/ supported the National Democracy and
/ been recognized Ivy President Cleveland
| as the true opponents OF Democracy IN
| this State, Their logic is that CltVe-
| lands endorsement amounts to moth
| ing-that the support OF the National
! ticket amounts to nothing-that devo-
| ton to Democratic principles and
| Democratic nominees elsewhere for IA
| life time amounts to nothing-lf j
! single "bolt" has been made, 1t IA man :
| Judgment and conscience has compelled
| him to refuse obedience to the behestS
| of machine politicians for single time,
| he is forever eXcommunIcated from the
circle of true Democrats in rlng-rldden
| d.
| lie tvadde which ought not to intiu
! ence an intelligent and honest man.
| While boiling is to be condemned from
| a party standpoint, those who do not
bolt often commit more objectionable
sins against the rights of the people.
! On the other hand the Reform press
| hold that the great question: to he deci-
| ded is that of personal or popular
government. Alleging that the Gov
| ernor of this State has more patronage
than the Governor of any other State in
! the Union, even having the power, I'M
paralleled and astounding, of appoint
| inc the local legislatures of the people !;
they contend that popular government
cannot survive in this State If Cover
nor fills all these places with his per-
sonal friends and henchmen in utter
| disregard of the wishes of the people.
They point to the fact that all the as
SCISSORS. peniteutiary lesSees, pnblic
printers and all other appointees Of the
! Governor, with few exceptions, are ar
dent partisans of perpetLating the rule
of their author, and declare that the
persoualism of the administration is
fast corruptng the public service and
will finally make an autocrat of the
! Governor who can safely defy all eff
forts to remove him. This, say the
| Reformers, is the main question ut is
sue and they think they have selected
as their candidate man who will con-
suit the will of the people in all of lis
appointments, will know no friends in
puhlic business and be guided by 10
selfish motives. We think it may well
be doubted whether the ReformeTs can
purge the public service of personalism
until the political millennium arrives.
| Their objection strikes at the nature Of
our government and is really more
| damaging to our laws which put so
much power in the Governors hands
than to the Governor who uses that
power according to the impulses Of hui
man nature Let the Reformers, at
once, ioin the Telegraph in its deter
| mination to urge the Legislature to take
| the appointment OF assessors and police
| Jurors ont of the Governors hands, and
| the State will be more secure from
| personalism in the future than if Il
| saint were elected Governor
To our minds, there is another qnes-
| ton in this campaign which oEershad
| ows all the questions so iahorI0usly
presented by rlng-men and reformers.
The vital question in this campaign
and in all campaigns in this State is
whether the Democratic party shall be
I
ton is not exactly one of white supre-
macy over the negroes themselves, as
Senator Eustis proclaimed in his speech
at Monroe. Senator Eustis has arrived,
by great mental exertion, at that stage
Of the negro problem at which we in
Ogachita arrived twelve years ago. He
grows eloquent and excited in the
enuncation of propositions which have
been familiar doctrine to US for more
than decade. The learned Senator is
a laggard in thought on the negro
problem. 1t has advanced far beyond
his depths in its practical workings. 1t
has not only been settled here that the
negroes shall not be at liberty to vote
for themselves or their Radical leaders,
bnt it has become the settled practice of
Mr.. Eustis's friends to vote the negroes
at Democratic mass-meetngs and prl-
mares. RaH1cat negro meetings nave
ceased-but Democratic negro meetings
have become in vogue. After neutra-
lizing the influence OF negroes against
the Democratic party, the brilliant idea
occurred to few ambitious men to
make the negro an active agent in con-
trolling and running the Democratic
machine and the question now is, not to
prevent negroes from being used by
radical or negro politicians, but to abol-
ish and overthrow their use by eyildis-
posed Democratic politicians. The use
of the negro as an instrument of power
in the Democratic party is phase of
the question which none of the speakers
touched on at Monroe. Why was this
The Telegraph has been agitating. the
question of excluding negroes from
primaries for months and months.
They have been excluded in East Baton
Rouge, where the Governor lives. The
Times Democrat. the greatest paper
supporting the Governor, had, but a
few days before the Monroe meeting,
come out squareiy in favor Of excluding
negroes from primaries. The Cover
nor's supporters in Morehouse and Rich
land are working to secure white pri-